What Does 30 days Mean to You - Essay Example

What Does Thirty Days Mean To You? Part Cost of Living The cost of living in the world of today is ever rising up. This is brought about by the general dragging of the economy which results in inflation. The cost of living is calculated by analyzing all the expenses that an individual incurs in a month (Denton, 2008). The total cost of the budget is $ 7599.50 based on rent, deposit, utilities, car payments, bags and luxuries. The preparation of the program will cover the Medical insurance program with all my medical expenses rather than having me pay for doctor’s visits and dental services. The calculation on the cost of living shows the expenses of an individual in a month in US $. The total of this money is quite a lot hence if the salary or the wages of a person does not approach 10,000 US dollars, the person may not be able to meet all the needs unless funded by the Government or well wishers (Sanchez-Jankowski, 2008). The expense of an individual in a month is in US $. On the part of rent, the budget is meant for everyone in the family single parents, elderly, single people, disabled, etc. but unfortunately every year the funds that are set aside for this program are underused. Over 1 million people are on the program but there are about 5.2 million people who are qualified but they haven’t applied yet EITC program. Medical insurance in California’s version of the Medicare program gives families and single adults the chance to get free medical care. The requirements for this program is that you can be 65 or older, blind, disabled, under the age of 21, pregnant, and other economically low situations. The utilities will cost $1200 whereby the cell phone bill will be $ 89. The amount I apply for is $1200 per month which does cover my entire grocery budget, there in no real maximum for each person so I can get $34.78 per month for food. The bugs and luxury good will cost $ 3200and the students will receive $576 for books and equipment for their courses, and an additional $2,592 to pay for tuition. For covering my Entertainment cost, beauty supplies and electronics I choose the Black Panther Party program that gives assistant to poverty eradication (Steinberg, 2010). Part two: Government Assistance Programs The above as earlier stated raises a point of concern on how the life could be for the individuals whose the amount of the wages they earn is below the stated figure. In this case, there should be a way out on how to assist these people and hence it calls for the various programs with the core agenda of assistance (Sharkey, 2009). These programs could be Governmental or non Governmental. Such agencies include; Aid to families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the Food Stamps amongst others. The duty of these programs is to assist the poor people and other people who cannot meet their daily requirements. The assistance is very necessary because according to the CFED 2012 Opportunity and Assets scorer card, of all the households, 27% are lining the Asset poverty. Apart from the above mentioned programs there is the so called the earned income tax Credit. EITC as abbreviated is basically a credit for the people whose earnings are low-to –moderate income. The credit then allows these people to get money from the Government if only their total tax is less that the total credit that has been earned by them. This by far is viewed has the largest program that eradicate the poverty levels in the United state of America (Patrick, 2009). In California the Black Panther Party is much involved in the poverty eradication. This group has existed since 1966.Its existence has been of much help since many people have benefited through the group’s actions. Part 3 Sociological Concepts Applied This study basically explains the poverty levels in our communities. In the field of Sociology, many concepts are used to define what poverty is because in the general understanding, poverty can not be specifically defined. This is because a person with an account of 10,000 US dollars can be termed as a poor person by tycoons while the same person may appear as a rich person to another group of the people. The sociology has then explained the poverty depending on the extent to which the poverty has encroached. This then comes up with many types or concepts of poverty. Unfortunately the time spent in poverty still does damage to the family, it makes them feel as if they are disconnected from society, just the fact that they can’t properly provide for their families. Poverty Caused by individual Deficiencies It means that many people in a given area are all poor. In this case then it is not easy for many people to meet their needs because nobody is better of (Steinberg, 2010). This poverty in US is defined as a (High Poverty). The focus of the individual attributes as the cause of poverty. The structural of the economic, political and social system are based on the causes of poverty. Politically, the theoreticians blame individual in poverty for creating their own problems. They argue that working hard on better choices could have avoided the poor. The key initiative today is to push the poor to work aiming on goals of achieving their best as far reduction of poverty is concerned. Community development perspective aims on improving the strategies for assuring that the poor work even at below living wage jobs. Cultural beliefs on Poverty Perspective This means the exact line that separates the poor and the rich (Steinberg, 2010). For example in some countries Government directions may state that any person that is earning a certain amount of money in a day is living below the poverty level. Hence this separation can be defined as the threshold poverty. There are cultural beliefs that support sub culture of poverty. It is the theory of poverty that explains about the root cause in poverty culture. This theory suggests that poverty is created by set of beliefs, values and skills generated socially but they are individually held. Poverty Caused By Cumulative and Cyclical Interdependencies Anyone who can survive off of that kind of money and still have money left over for extra expenses is truly a miracle worker. This theory looks at the individual situation and community resources and bases them on economy which makes the survival for the community in paying fewer taxes. The theory tries to explain the development and underdevelopment in the economy. The economic inequality in the U.S. is to almost a disgusting level, people parade around their money using it without a care, while kids go home to find out there will be no food for that weekend. I’m not saying that we should become a communist society and everyone has an equal amount of money. Part Four: My Reactions According to the calculations of the costs of the life, I can conclude that I am not able to make the ends meet. This is because the amount of the wages that I earn is less than the monthly expenses. According to my calculations I earn about 2,000 US dollars per month. This is much, much below the then calculated 10,000 dollars which is approximately the amount of the money that i require to make my ends meet following the factors of the standard life in the state of California. I actually need about 8,000 US dollars per month so that i can be able to meet my monthly expenses. This is a lot of money that i require and this is a clear picture on how poverty is encroaching day by day. This is because if this is what I need and there are other people who may be in the same situation or even a worse one; it then directly depicts the poverty level. A keen Government should then collect this data and serve to assist in the planning of the country’s budget so as to ensure that the level of the poverty is greatly reduced. This research is of importance in the today’s life as one can learn a lot from it. The research teaches about life in the sense that it is always hard to completely satisfy what is needed in life. This is to mean that many People in this life do not live to fullness. Again on life there is issue of love that is broadly brought to light (Wilson, 2009). The Programs that assist people in getting what it requires for a standard life are good show of the love that we are supposed to up hold as the human beings. This means to assist one another in the time of problems. The issue of poverty is well explained by this study that many people are surviving in the poverty line. This has been shown through the calculations which can is termed as a sample of what is entirely happening in the world. My future goals would be to work very hard to ensure that i earn money what does not leave me in the poverty level. This is to mean that i should in future be able to meet my needs both the basic one and the luxurious part. Then I also have a goal of helping other people come out of this problem. References Nancy Denton (2008). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, Mass. London: Harvard University Press. Sanchez-Jankowski (2008). Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods, Berkeley. California: University of California Press. Sharkey Patrick (2009). The Economic Mobility Project, The Pew Charitable Trusts. Washington, DC: Neighborhoods and the Black-White Mobility Gap. Steinberg S. (2010). The Myth of Concentrated Poverty, In the Integration Debate: Competing Futures for American Cities. New York: Chester Hartman and Gregory Squires. Wilson W. (2009). The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Read More